Local History email list signup

Oral History Photos

Rockland Room

It's Veterans Day and the library will be open from 11-6 today. Remember to call or thank a veteran today for their service to our country. We've interviewed many local veterans in the past few years as part of our oral history program here at the library. Early in September we spoke with Albert H. Davis, a long-time New City resident and veteran of World War II. In the clip below he recalls some of his first experiences in action during World War II.

Rockland County lost another great one as Bert Dahm passed away last week. I had just received a letter from him encouraging support for Heritage of West Nyack and their work with the Vanderbilt Onderdonk Traphagen property, so he was working tirelessly for historic preservation right until the end of his life. He sat down for an interview with us back in 2014 and we're so glad that we have his memories to share with the community of growing up in West Nyack, how the Clarkstown Central School district emerged from a collection of small schoolhouses, the story of Rockland's vanished airports and much more. Listen to the full interview with Bert here: http://www.hrvh.org/cdm/ref/collection/larc/id/3095

We were sad to hear of the passing of Harry Waitzman this week, a long-time resident of Rockland County. It was about a year ago that he sat down with us and told us some stories from the old days about going to school in the English Church in New Hempstead, his father's fish store in Spring Valley, the War and the origins of important Jewish institutions in New City. He was one of our best patrons, always curious and wanting to learn more, attending computer classes up until the last year of his life - a true life-long learner. We'll miss you Harry. Thanks for sharing your memories.

The Genealogical Society meeting and presentation on web sites for Genealogist scheduled for Tuesday February 23rd at 7PM has been cancelled. You can view a list of recommended sites here: Recommended Genealogy Sites 2016. A few of the highights are as follows:

We've worked hard this past year collecting stories from residents around Rockland County as part of the Share Listen Learn: Stories of Rockland County oral history program. Many of the stories we've collected can be heard on our Soundcloud page http://souncloud.com/rocklandroom - now you can take a piece of history home by purchasing a CD for $10 that features 26 short stories from your neighbors.

We believe that people and their stories are important. That's why we have conducted over 50 interviews in the past year with the help of a dedicated team of volunteers and staff and produced several Listening programs this Fall. There are still two more listening events this year. Next Monday November 30th at 7PM"Rockland Stories" will feature stories from people all around Rockland County that help us to understand what makes this place special. The last event of the year on December 7th at 2pm, "Rockland County and World War II" will feature the stories of its residents who served in the armed forces and those who remember what it was like on the homefront. Try interviewing your loved ones during theGreat Thanksgiving Listen organized by StoryCorps. You can preview some of the Rockland Stories at the link below.

The Library will be open this Wednesday on Veterans Day and that evening at 7:30PM we will be hosting a special event featuring the stories of your neighbors who served our Country in the Armed Forces. There will be stories from men and women who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marines. Stories will be from service in World War II, Vietnam, and the first Iraq War. A number of video interviews produced by Clarkstown North's David Kaminski and filmed at the Rockland Independent Living Center will be shown as well. Please be advised, some of these stories are graphic in nature. We thank all the Veterans for their service and for sharing their stories.

Back in June I had the pleasure of interviewing Fred Bohlander of Stony Point. He came down to the library and told javpageme stories for over two hours of his volunteer work as a member of the Wayne Hose Company, his father and the milk delivery business, how he met his wife, and many more memories of life in Rockland County. When I heard on WRCR this week that he had passed, I was sad that such a genuine guy and a great community leader was gone. But I was glad that he had shared his story with us and that his family, friends, and the community would have these stories to keep as a reminder of him. Although Fred lived much of his life in Stony Point, he fondly recalled his days as a young boy in New City where he learned all about farming from his neighbors the Smiths. You can listen to a part of this on our Soundcloud and at the link below. Thank you Fred, you can rest in peace having lived a good life.

A newspaper editor, a camp counselor, a teacher, a farmer's wife, an electrician, a firefighter, a primitive artist and a retired ad-man walk into a library. This isn't the start to a bad joke, the stories of residents of Rockland County working in these jobs and others will take the stage as we begin a series called Share, Listen, Learn that features clips from our oral history collection on Tuesday September 8th at 7PM. Celebrate Labor Day by listening to stories from your neighbors working a number of unique Rockland jobs.

There are many interesting programs related to Local History at the New City Library in April. James Cassetta will be discussing his new book on Pearl River on Tuesday April 14th at 7PM. Larry Kigler will show us 125 years of Rockland County history with the help of extensive postcard collection on Tuesday April 28th at 7PM in an illustrated lecture. Learn more about these programs and other activities related to local history in the latest edition of our local history newsletter. Sign up for regular emails related to local history collections and programs here: https://madmimi.com/signups/122327/join.